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I have made quite a few brush handles on the lathe, but yesterday and today I thought I would have a go at a couple in deer antler (no lathe required).
Here follows a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it. It is really quite easy.
First, the two finished brushes.
Burnt Fallow Deer Antler with Silvertip Badger.
Here is yesterday's completed brush, alongside the other fallow deer antler of the pair I bought.
It is a lot of antler, and you might just get two brushes out of one antler.
Here you can see that the first cut is just above the crown, and the brush is aligned where it came off the crown.
For deer antlers, see eBay! The little roe deer ones are not big enough for a shaving brush. Antlers usually come up in pairs, but sometimes as singles. Some big antlers are presentation pieces, and horribly expensive, but you should be able to pick up a pair for about £40 or less including postage. Enough for 2 or perhaps 4 brush handles depending on the diameter.
Here is the next section off the same antler. Antler saws very easily with a hacksaw. The diameter is smaller, but just big enough to take a badger knot. It is shown here set up in a drill press vice with a 22mm forstner bit about to do its stuff. (22mm because that is the size of the silvertip badger knots that I have). Drilling it is a bit smelly, but quite easy. You go down in depth to a bit more than the head of the drill bit.
The hole drilled. This second cut piece of antler was only just big enough. Note that I drilled the hole off centre. On the right side, the antler had a concave shape, and if I had drilled closer to that side then there would have been a danger of breaking out the side near the bottom of the hole.
The scruffy piece of antler. Here I have used a rasp to file off the corners, otherwise they would be too sharp in the hand when using the brush. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice some white stuff in the teeth of the rasp. Thats because she who must be obeyed was at home the other day when I needed the cheese grater to reduce the size of a shaving soap puck to fit in my scuttle. So I used this rasp instead. Don't be disappointed if the antler you buy looks gungy, dirty and uninteresting like this. We can play with it.
You will notice that the cut ends of the antler are very cellular and porus, like this.
So what you do is seal the ends. Here I am using superglue, which soaks in and sets rock hard. It takes quite a while to dry! Leave it for a couple of hours and then file the end smooth. (An alternative would be to use polyurethane varnish to fill those pores, but it will take a lot of coats).
While I am at it, I put some inside the bottom of the hole too.
To be continued next post...
Here follows a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it. It is really quite easy.
First, the two finished brushes.
Burnt Fallow Deer Antler with Silvertip Badger.
Here is yesterday's completed brush, alongside the other fallow deer antler of the pair I bought.
It is a lot of antler, and you might just get two brushes out of one antler.
Here you can see that the first cut is just above the crown, and the brush is aligned where it came off the crown.
For deer antlers, see eBay! The little roe deer ones are not big enough for a shaving brush. Antlers usually come up in pairs, but sometimes as singles. Some big antlers are presentation pieces, and horribly expensive, but you should be able to pick up a pair for about £40 or less including postage. Enough for 2 or perhaps 4 brush handles depending on the diameter.
Here is the next section off the same antler. Antler saws very easily with a hacksaw. The diameter is smaller, but just big enough to take a badger knot. It is shown here set up in a drill press vice with a 22mm forstner bit about to do its stuff. (22mm because that is the size of the silvertip badger knots that I have). Drilling it is a bit smelly, but quite easy. You go down in depth to a bit more than the head of the drill bit.
The hole drilled. This second cut piece of antler was only just big enough. Note that I drilled the hole off centre. On the right side, the antler had a concave shape, and if I had drilled closer to that side then there would have been a danger of breaking out the side near the bottom of the hole.
The scruffy piece of antler. Here I have used a rasp to file off the corners, otherwise they would be too sharp in the hand when using the brush. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice some white stuff in the teeth of the rasp. Thats because she who must be obeyed was at home the other day when I needed the cheese grater to reduce the size of a shaving soap puck to fit in my scuttle. So I used this rasp instead. Don't be disappointed if the antler you buy looks gungy, dirty and uninteresting like this. We can play with it.
You will notice that the cut ends of the antler are very cellular and porus, like this.
So what you do is seal the ends. Here I am using superglue, which soaks in and sets rock hard. It takes quite a while to dry! Leave it for a couple of hours and then file the end smooth. (An alternative would be to use polyurethane varnish to fill those pores, but it will take a lot of coats).
While I am at it, I put some inside the bottom of the hole too.
To be continued next post...